Thursday, September 13, 2012

The Ghost of Georgetown - Kansas City Pro-Am draw is out, and there's a perfect number of players: 32. Thus, there will be two full preliminary rounds on Thursday to determine the qualifiers for the main round of 16 beginning on Friday. It's a great start to the 2012-13 International Racquetball Tour (IRT) season.

There look to be some good matches on Thursday, and one highlight could be from the "Age is just a number" category as Ruben Gonzalez is in the draw. Gonzalez had plans to retire when he turned 60, which he did this past summer, but he wanted to be ranked in the top 10 at that time. He made it to 16th, which is quite good, so maybe he's changed his plans to be that he'll retire when he gets in the top 10. Or maybe Gonzalez just isn't going to retire, which would be fine by us.

Gonzalez will face either James Slamko or Bradly Rogers in the 2nd preliminary round, and a win would put him up against Ben Croft in the Round of 16.

Other highlights could be Brad Schopieray and Alex Ackermann, which would be a battle of two good young player, although Ackermann has to get by veteran Travis Woodbury first.

Marco Rojas is in the draw, and he had some good results late last season. He'll face Cesar Castillo in the first prelim round and the winner will then be up against Tony Carson for a chance to play Andy Hawthorne in the 16s.